


We Are the Now Starless Sky

by twinkykoo



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Crack Treated Seriously, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 20:08:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19708519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twinkykoo/pseuds/twinkykoo
Summary: It was addicting, in a wonderfully chaotic way, how Jaehyun could do nothing but muse his hair up as they stood in front of the mirror propped up in Gryffindor common room, having beat the crowd of their mates who woke up as close to class time as possible, only to tell him he looks like he's never met a comb in his entire life, and Johnny would still thrive.orjohnjae hogwarts!au where they kiss, but only as friends ;)





	We Are the Now Starless Sky

**Author's Note:**

> hello ! i haven't posted a fic in a very long time oops, and this is my first venture into nct fics but i still think it came out alright heh. they're both in their last year here, so you'll get lots of ponders of the future and pining rip  
> as tradition goes, this is a birthday present for my wonderful tuwuin ♡ ilysm uwu  
> pls enjoy your time reading!
> 
> title based loosely on the song: for now - kina grannis (a good song to listen to while reading this!)

Beginnings of a sunrise rose over the horizon, a mixture of oranges and yellows in their most natural state. 

Where seeing colours in nature brought a new sense of beauty to the table that he'd never witnessed until his eyes had truly opened. Until magic in forms he'd never tasted filled his mouth.

For the sunrise pouring in through the parted curtains opened the entire room up, the dust particles hardly visible but enough to where his nose twitched at the loathsome sight of them, bathed heavenly blankets of colour across facial features hardly an inch from his own. If he moved too much, he worried it would ruin the mood; may put a damper on him taking the well-suited time to observe and  _ admire. _

Moving was an issue he so desperately wanted to push into the back of his mind so he could lay in the somewhat stiff bed, itchy bedding scratching against his bare skin every minute shift he indulged, the draft that floated in through the cracks of the window hitting him in places he wished for it gone in the barrier of arms wrapped snugly around him— He would so marvel in staying still.

The tingling of his right arm begged, pleaded, and screamed to differ to all his well wishes, and who was he to not surrender to the discomfort his poor body was going through. He may not have been exactly  _ human _ , but his traitorous body continued to prove otherwise.

First, he wiggled his fingers, the ghost of a sensation running through them and he groaned at the numbness taking them over, one second at a time. Then, only then, did he shift his arm under the head currently lolled over his bicep.

"Mmn— stop moving, bitch." The voice was laced in grogginess that had a pool of warmth swelling in his stomach, almost as tingly as his damn arm losing circulation rapidly.

The words, however, had a grimace on his face. "My arm's on the verge of death, so please, spare me from amputation."

"Ask nicely and your arm may be spared, sir."

_ Nothing is ever easy in life, plagued to be tested second after second—  _

With the inevitable defeat looming over him, he looked to the rising sun as some sort of healing factor, that he could draw energy and light from and add something to his depleting supply of fuel for his dramatic ass, but when he turned his gaze to the back of an incredibly faded pink head with no sight of moving at all, then how his not-dead-asleep arm was easily curled to rest his hand on the smooth skin of his stomach. Feeling the rise and fall that reassured him that the boy was breathing, smooth and steady, a beautiful combination that filled his heart with a hope he wondered would be his eventual downfall, he forgot what his complaints even had been in the first place.

"Jaehyun, my sweet love, the star that guides me home after a week-long quest," he trailed off, narrowing his eyes for a moment before shaking his head to continue, "my favourite booty call, please. For the love of Merlin and his voluptuous beard, release me of this suffering. I need both arms for the missions hanging over our heads, including giving you wonderous amounts of lovin'."

If he could, he'd probably be able to hear the eyeroll as Jaehyun finally sat up.  _ Finally _ , his arm screamed in gratitude as he moved to lay on his back, cradling it to his chest as though it were his beloved firstborn child and the reunion had been paired with tears and dramatic piano as the soundtrack.

He didn't miss the grin in Jaehyun's voice, though he had resigned to sitting on the edge of the bed with his back facing him. "Have I ever told you you'd be a wonderful actor on the West End? They need more Shakespearean thespians, Johnny, and you're the right amount of  _ weird as fuck _ ."

Johnny smirked at absolutely nothing, glad his monkey brain last night somehow was able to remember to tug a pair of boxers on— he had a suspicion they weren't his from the telling tightness around the waistband, but him and his ass will live with little security— as he shot up straight, stretching his arms over his head and only halting when he heard the satisfying  _ pop _ of his back with a groan all too suggestive for dawn.

"With a memory charm and bleach in my hair, I'll be playing a better Hamlet than Kenneth Branagh and Laurence Olivier. You can be my Horatio, lovey."

"Do not slander their names, you heathen."

There was shuffling; from Johnny migrating to situate himself in his rightful place behind Jaehyun and his trifling form, arms curling around his torso and waist until chest met cooled back and he was melting into the other all over again. All the while, Jaehyun had muttered under his breath, a silent " _ Accio uniform shirt _ " despite the emptiness of the dorm.

Peace and quiet followed until words repeated in his head and Johnny couldn't keep from pressing fleeting kisses to the presented shoulder. "You don't think I'd make a fly Hamlet? Listen, I'm dramatic, perpetually coming up with ideas that fail,  _ and  _ just yesterday someone called me, and I quote, a  _ sorry excuse for an emo sad boy _ . You know Hamlet would post fake-deep quotes to his blog after his dad died if he could."

"Wait, who called you that?"

"I think it was Ten, after I started crying over my Fizzing Whizbees falling to the ground— Honestly, I was too far gone to see but!" A kiss to the back of that glorious neck, Johnny questioned if he had a neck attraction, then deposited to just Jaehyun's hot neck. "I am a thespian in the making. If professional Quidditch player fails me, and Aurors continue to be annoying, I'll become an actor and you can bring flowers to all my shows and swoon over me in the front seats. It'll be hot."

" _ Hot _ isn't a word I would use, but whatever you say, sweetie."

The sun had come up a few more beats into the sky as they finally untangled from each other, missed warmth wherever he couldn't touch Jaehyun or press him into his mind and soul. Usually, after late night tristes over whose bed they'd sleep in and what exactly it meant to not trespass in the Prefect's bathroom when it's just so much easier to chill in there than the haunted common area ones, and nights of sneaking out with their friends and trekking over to Hogsmeade, sometimes Johnny couldn't get enough of Jaehyun.

He had to touch him at every point or his mind would go wild. There was a storm of assumptions that forever would surround Jaehyun; as unattainable as the star student and top ranking wizard every single year of their education together. As stuck-up from coming out of a pureblood family yet he and his family were as kind and forthcoming as could be, and that storm pulled him right into the eye and he'd let the rain soak him for as long as he possibly could.

It was addicting, in a wonderfully chaotic way, how Jaehyun could do nothing but muse his hair up as they stood in front of the mirror propped up in Gryffindor common room, having beat the crowd of their mates who woke up as close to class time as possible, only to tell him he looks like he's never met a comb in his entire life, and Johnny would still thrive.

He was, as their friends would comment every time Johnny had been caught gazing at Jaehyun like the world had dimmed to just him, whipped silly. Whipping cream had  _ nothing _ on him, as lame as that inquiry was.

"Can I get a goodbye kiss, my love?" Jaehyun looked at him, one raised brow as he worked on straightening his pressed collar.

"We have Advanced Potions  _ together _ , you sit beside me, send me notes all the time. You're my partner, there is no goodbye. You send me kisses in a vial about 5 times before the class even  _ begins _ , you dolt."

That had his lower lip jutting out slightly, crossing his arms while he pushed himself off the wall, taking to crowding unto the other's space feebly. All he had to do was frown a little— Exhale a strained breath that wasn't exactly a whine, because he was  _ not  _ a beggar, but teetered off at the end enough to still be pathetic, and Jaehyun was draping his arms around his shoulders and puckering his lips up just for him.

_ Just for him _ , he smiled all gross and goofy as he leaned the slightest bit down to meet him halfway, snatch one final kiss without even having to glance either way for safety measures. The sweet, cotton candied side of Jaehyun was just for him to see. 

Where when he pulled away in need of a single breath, Jaehyun was already grappling forward for purchase and to close the millimeters of ocean between their lips, just for it to last another 2 seconds before they heard the turning of a doorknob and they put at least 2 feet of space between the two of them. 

One of their juniors, Jeno, the cute one with a smile that shone almost as bright as his joking spellwork on Fridays in the common room, hyper enough to be a shocking star Chaser on the Gryffindor team, stared between the two of them. Stared at Johnny trying to act natural, elbow propping his body up against the wall with his hand cradling his head, and Jaehyun fixated in fixing his already perfect fringe indignantly, then sighed out.

"If you guys were being gross, I will tell on you." Jeno spoke as though his clipped English wasn't adorably misplaced, then he switched to their comfortable Korean conversations, though he sounded bitter in either language. "I won't hesitate, hyung."

Johnny rolled his eyes to the heavens above, standing straight and taking the few strides for his long legs to reach Jeno, patting his shoulder. "Do that and I'll get you to fly extra laps around the pitch, to the point where your legs and arms'll feel as though they've been chopped off with a dull butter knife."

"You're as scary as a fruit fly with its wings clipped off, and you can't even  _ do  _ that."

"Do you hear that?" He cupped a hand around his ear, head tipping over his shoulder to look at Jaehyun, who had an amused little grin on his face. "Sounds like a little bitch baby forgetting I'm team captain.  _ And _ the Head Boy is right here."

Fake gasps were heard from both Jeno and Jaehyun, covering their mouths until they all dissolved into fits of giggles and Johnny was hooking his arm around Jeno's neck to effectively ruin his hair further than the tragic bed head he'd emerged in.

Silly of him to bask in an atmosphere so temporary; have it keep a smile wide on his face the rest of the day, cruise through his plenty of shared classes with his friends and joke around while he had a ghost for a professor yet he'd found ways to get around Binns and send little flying paper cranes to Jaehyun beside him with notes that  _ definitely  _ needed to burst into flames after having been read.

One day, Johnny would have to give in to the temporary joy and maybe find something more— 

Long-term.

Something that'd heed his frantically swaying head and keep him on the ground, as flying through the sky during games could calm him down for so many years. Waking up on the right side of his bed with Jaehyun tucked into his arms, hair tickling under his chin where he was hidden for the most part, and even though they had separate beds and weren't at all allowed to just  _ share _ whenever they wanted, the simmering glee he felt watching the boy snooze the ticking minutes of early morning away was a temporary feeling he'll take advantage of until he couldn't.

  
  


☆

  
  


Johnny picked out the stray bits of confetti from the previous night's festivities that had stayed trapped in his hair at the long lunch bench, watching across from him how Jaehyun had begun the time allotted to food with studying. Books strewn in front of him instead of plates sky high with food, like Johnny, but that had quickly been abandoned when other friends had joined them and brought their trialing nonsense along.

"On a scale of  _ the scum on the bottom of Filch's mop _ to  _ astral projecting beyond realms brain _ , how well do you think we'll do on our N.E.W.Ts?" Ten has a mouthful of what appears to be bread, Johnny truly hopes it's bread, while poking his head around from the end of the table to look down it.

No one answers, as the question requires much more brain power than he allows himself to use on any given day, but Jaehyun takes one for the team. Him and his kind soul.

"Maybe a simple  _ galaxy brain _ ?" His eyes are slightly unfocused, giving him a more uninteresting approach but Johnny knew him better than that. Jaehyun was evaluating the risk and rewards of his next words, careful with the group around them. "Some of you may even hit the  _ chef's kiss atop the completion of a 10-tier wedding cake  _ level if you actually listened in your specific classes."

A ring of chuckles and snickers travels through their group, Ten grinning as he sits back more comfortably to steal more food off of Doyoung's plate, who had a less than satisfactory attempt at a smile on his face.

Exams were a looming issue on all of their heads, though that was a temporary issue in of itself. Maybe he should've taken them more serious, been studying his Alchemy worksheets he never completed; done the few Charms assignments, actually took the time to write out his scrolls for Transfiguration like Jaehyun did every week. He looked around the table of his friends, with their varied careers in mind and specific classes tied under the belt, and wished to hit pause on everything there.

"Shh, guys, guys." He shook himself out of his stupor, looked straight across to Jaehyun, and felt the burst of excitement he adored when he was greeted with a smile too radiant for the dreary autumn day outside. "Johnny's  _ actually _ thinking, like, about something thoughtful."

"Hey, I think all the time!"

Somewhere down the table someone scoffs, and a side-glance proved it was the little shit of a 5th year Mark, shaking his head where he sat squeezed between Jeno and Doyoung. "You think about two things, max."

"And one of those is yourself." Doyoung added incredulously.

Ten smacked his lips together, the candies he'd snuck in from their escapade to Hogsmeade dying them an obnoxious shade of lime green. "The other is how the next Quidditch match with Slytherin's gonna go and how he'll stick wasps in their helmets pre-game."

"You guys are bullies. I'm probably the smartest person here, yet this underestimation of my skills keeps me from my full potential." He puts on his best dejected pout, which earns him a full kick under the table from either side and a piece of potato from the day's soup smacking against his cheek.

"Who else is aiming for 'Johnny's professional bully' as their career?" Jaehyun quipped, smiling innocently around the spoon caught between his teeth.

Everyone in their immediate group raised their hands, unsurprising to Johnny himself, who also raised his hand for the fun of it. "What? I bully myself on a daily basis, you don't get where I am without some self-hatred."

"Idiots, we've given him another strength."

Jaehyun had that silent wobble in his voice, the slightest hint of a laugh stuck somewhere in his chest, and that was one of his favourite sounds ever. 

Little things like that: the sound of laughter coming to the surface yet not reaching at that second, or the sneaky little smiles they'd flash each other as their friends rattled on about how bad they were bound to fail their Potions N.E.W.Ts if their professor kept that iron stick up his ass any longer and made them clean every cauldron in the room 4 times again, and Johnny longed to slip away from the crowd when they finally departed to get to their classes but he kept his ground.

Because as heavenly as the idea of sneaking out from planned class and going to explore the riveting castle of Hogwarts that they'd come to call a home away from home was, Jaehyun saw how the idea flashed in his eyes before it fully had time to form. Had him wrapping those pretty fingers of his around Johnny's wrist and tugging him in closer to his side until they were touching in plenty of wondrous places.

Until he could feel the warm atmosphere surrounding them quicker than he'd ever felt before, and turning his head proved the other had a smile stuck to his face for no particular reason. In the comfort of their robes billowing around them and the hoards of students, he could comfortably slip his fingers through Jaehyun's fingers and grip tight.

It was the small reminders of Jaehyun smiling, holding him close, never leaving his side as they trekked along, that brought his temporary joy to an all-new level.

  
  


☆

  
  


To the world, they were a pair of natural best friends. 

Jaehyun came from a South Korea-based pureblood family of aurors and educators, and had been living in Britain for a good few cycles of children on and off. He was  _ destined  _ for Hogwarts, for Prefect, for Head Boy when it came along.

He was destined for greatness.

Johnny came from a rather— intriguing tale of events. A mother who'd been a star Quidditch player in her younger years back home but stuffed it all into the back of her history books for a muggle man, where they lived out of Chicago and where he ended up growing up for all of his childhood, never truly indulging the wizarding side of his life and his mother's past until he got to the ripe age of 10 he had somehow, some way through his mom, gotten his acceptance letter to the infamous wizarding school across the ocean.

The two of them were matched from the start by fate or dumb luck or a handy helping figure up above, who knows. Young Jaehyun, with his floppy brown hair and glasses a little too large for his round face, slipped into Johnny's train car on the Hogwarts Express. Face all blotchy and a small black cat smushed close to his chest, not noticing the one other taker of air in the car up to the second he sat down and jumped back at the sight of another boy in front of him.

_ "I-I'm sorry, I didn't think anyone else was here." The boy stammered out, while Johnny continued to stare with a silent question in his throat. "There were no other free ones, a-and this one girl tried to take Mister Pepper _ —"

_ Hearing the small voice, the stutter taking up room in his mind, the way the cat, Mister Pepper, stretched each of its pitch black limbs before kneading its front paws against the boy's cheeks, Johnny couldn't help but nod along. _

_ Nod and smile and stick his hand out, silencing the rambling boy in front of him. "It's fine! I'm Johnny Seo, by the way." _

_ "Oh, Jaehyun." He stopped to shake his hand somewhat vigorously, the other still gripping the cat close. "Jung Jaehyun." _

_ "Korean?" _

_ Jaehyun gave a quick, precise nod and took his hand back in favour of digging into one of his pockets. When he removed it, he had 4 packets of what he assumed were sweets and held his hand towards him once more, cheeky grin with a few missing front teeth and all. _

_ "Yep, yep. But I've lived here a good while, duh. You? Your English is so good." He took to shaking his hand a little when Johnny hadn't taken any of the offered candy. "Take some, I swear they're good! Jelly Slugs are kinda as normal as sweets here get. They're usually way longer, but I brought these from home. Cut them myself." _

_ Reluctantly, he took 2 of the packets and ripped into the first one immediately, popping the whole handful into his mouth at once. They tasted just like the jelly gummies he had all the time at home, the type that cause a million cavities but were completely worth it so he chewed to his heart's content. _

_ "I'm from Chicago, that's why." Johnny tried and failed to beam a smile, but with his mouth full of sticky sweets it felt more like when you try to grin with an orange slice over your teeth. Jaehyun laughed at that, for some reason. _

_ He also offered him more candies and chocolates from his seemingly endless pockets, and let him hold Mister Pepper, eager that the kitten may actually like another person besides himself.  _

_ They shared stories and Jaehyun answered every question Johnny had about the wizarding world, even got the very shallow view of how different the American wizarding world was versus the British one. Somewhere in their endless rambles, Johnny's nervousness of being so far from home pooled into a puddle and evaporated away with every ambitious tale from Jaehyun. _

They sat beside each other in the Great Hall after they'd both gotten into Gryffindor house, ended up being seat buddies in their 1st year in Transfiguration, then hand-picked partners for Potions since day one.

Destined wasn't even the right word for them. First, it was cheesy as fuck.  _ Destined _ implied a realm Johnny was a bit too avoidant of.

_ Best possible matches _ worked better; fit snugger. Like a warm blanket around them, attached to them like they were to each other. Whichever classes Jaehyun took interest to, Johnny scrambled to get into them as well. Divination sounded boring as all hell for a 3rd year class, not to mention the few times he'd seen the professor with her egregiously large glasses at Christmas dinner he'd been actively terrified, but Jaehyun bribed him into squirming his way into it as well.

When Johnny first tried out for Quidditch in their 2nd year, Jaehyun went along smoothly for the moral support. He later admitted he had not an ounce of that passion Johnny held so deeply, but Jaehyun couldn't help but admire his dedication to a sport that he'd recently just found the intricacies of. It was, as he would say,  _ sexier than having the entire History of Magic textbook whispered into your ear _ . 

Not very sexy to begin with, Johnny had to say after a strange experience in his 4th year he vowed to never let resurface.

If it had been any other school, with any other student body, they may have rolled in separate crowds with how they grew to be so  _ different _ . Johnny looked back to the very shallow ways 9-year-olds saw each other back home, with sanctions made at such young ages as to everyone who acted the same stuck together, while the groups never dared to mix around.

For them, the two of them, with Johnny going on to be the Gryffindor team captain by their 5th year and Jaehyun embracing his stoic yet vigilant duties of one of the Prefects for their house, none of that changed how they were attached to each other. Stupid, he understands, to think they'd ever grow apart when he knew every single hidden side to Jaehyun and vice versa.

Aside from what the world saw of them, what they saw of each other was a bubbling mess of emotions stemming from much too early for either of them to recall. 

Where he couldn't remember when looking at Jaehyun brought up butterflies up his throat, or how he felt like he'd just fallen through the floor beneath his feet every time he wanted to say something and the boy flashed him a dimpled smile, and the roof of his mouth was stuck as though peanut butter had been spread thick. They just  _ happened _ , and he first had to accept that yeah, he was wondering how his best friend's lips felt against his own casually.

How he watched Jaehyun go through his growth spurt around the same time as Johnny's, but he stopped growing just as soon as they'd reached the same height— Leaving Johnny to speed ahead a few more inches, but he noticed the other ways Jaehyun grew. His face filled out; where his cheeks were still as squishy as ever, his cheekbones and jaw carved out a pretty, yet sharp shape to his face. Shoulders broadened, his voice dropped smoothly. 

Small changes that lit a small flame in the pit of Johnny's stomach that'd already begun burning, and made his hands itch to cherish him. But he also felt the pressure on his heart every time Jaehyun snickered at one of his stupider jokes, or would offer him help on an assignment only to stay up the whole night with him when he'd already done all his work.

Johnny never thought his boiling over point would reach in his gargantuan crush on Jaehyun, he was inevitably going to be in love with his best friend with nothing to account for it. Yet, a trist of idiocy and recklessness in their 4th year over sleepless nights leading up to their final examinations and Johnny  _ swearing  _ he was freezing cold in the middle of the hottest May yet, and randomly they ended up cuddling together in bed— Which wasn't  _ strange  _ for them.

Cuddling turned to a fleeting comment from Johnny on how soft Jaehyun was, where he recalls calling him  _ his snugglebear  _ or something cringey along those lines, and then being stupid enough to wonder aloud if Jaehyun's lips were just as soft because he'd  _ felt most other places _ . Because of course he'd never be able to express his feelings without the stupid neanderthal side of his brain springing up, reminding him he only had a single braincell and that was only due to being friends with Jaehyun.

No, Johnny doesn't claim he ever said those things out loud and yes, Jaehyun continues to hold that  _ that  _ was how he decided to tell him his feelings over his head nearly 3 years later.

  
  


☆

  
  


"The way I've been reading your horoscope for 4 years yet you won't admit that you embody Aquarius perfectly is a show of why natural selection will come get you first. That's literally weakness at its finest, and if you can't come to terms with coming out of your Aquarius closet, I will body slam you out myself."

"Johnny."

"Also, in all honesty, if you sat and really thought about it all, when we read the tea leaves for points and make shit up, it might  _ actually _ have some truth to it." Johnny slipped over the page in the textbook his eyes had been scanning, blessedly keeping it balanced on his lap, then returned to waving his hands while he spoke. "Who's to say that you won't actually be attacked by a merperson while dipping your toes into the Lake?  _ Hmm _ ? You can never be too safe."

"Johnny, pause."

He barely had it in him to look up, instead waving a hand in dismissive circles in the air. With the same hand, he summoned over his wand from where he'd left it with his forgotten robes on his bed. "Also also; when did death omens become such  _ everyday shit _ ? Who allowed that to happen—"

A million other ideas rattled around in his brain but two hands slamming down on the textbook shook him away from connecting any other strings. At once, Johnny raised his head to look at the boy across the bed from him, a disheveled mess with his red and yellow tie up to mimic a headband and push the hair out of his eyes, and he looked maybe the most tired that he'd ever seen him look.

"Can you relax, for just half a second?" His voice was sharp, enough that it stunned Johnny into silence. Jaehyun exhaled deeply, shoulders slumping as though the last drops of energy had just slipped from him. "Thank  _ god _ . Okay, look. Yes, I accept my title as biggest Aquarius, but that's muggle issues I'd deal with later on—"

Just as soon as Johnny opened his mouth to argue that horoscope charts were  _ incredibly  _ vital to a wizard's life, Jaehyun raised his hand to cover his mouth. Those soft fingers brushing against his cheeks, a smooth palm over his lips, and he forgot what he wanted to argue immediately. "You're stressed, it's nearly 4 in the morning, and you have Quidditch practice in about 2 hours that  _ you  _ yourself called, so if you don't close that fucking textbook and sleep, I will  _ put  _ you to sleep  _ myself _ ."

"Mmm—" Johnny blinked. Jaehyun blinked back slowly, then yanked his hand when Johnny had darted his tongue out to lick across his palm. His lips curled up, carefully as he watched the flush of pink travel down the other's neck. "And how'll you put me to sleep, then?"

They stared at each other for a few moments too long, yet it only had the ache to reach out and touch Jaehyun blooming in his chest more aggressively than before. Brush his fingers down his cheek, along the bend of his neck he held straight so proudly, maybe down his spine until he made it to the hem of his pajama shirt, then graze the irreverently chilled skin hidden underneath and just  _ feel  _ him.

Instead of fulfilling his wet dreams of softness, of mayhaps crawling onto Johnny's lap and whispering sweet nothings into his ear, Jaehyun unearthed his own wand from under his pillow and pointed it right at Johnny. He had to cross his eyes to look the tip straight down, but that didn't have the smile on his face deflating at all.

"Petrificus totalus." Jaehyun enunciated each syllable, with no obvious magic behind his words but Johnny widened his eyes in utter shock all the same.

"You  _ wouldn't _ ."

The corner of Jaehyun's mouth quirked up at the disbelief, keeping his arm still but twirling his wrist in a clean, fluid circle clockwise. Johnny felt his breath hitch in his throat, out of excitement or arousal or nervousness he wasn't sure, but the look in Jaehyun's eyes staring him down the length of his wand had him tingling from head to toe.

"It wouldn't put you to sleep of course, but you'll at least shut up and stay still long enough to fall asleep." That was when he let the smile take over his face; wide, mischievous, intensely breathtaking. A rebel's smile hidden behind those poster boy dimples. "Listen to me, I  _ am  _ Head Boy."

He dared to move, just enough shifting so his bare feet were nudging under Jaehyun's legs, glad he took the hint to uncross and part them to rest over Johnny's. The simplest of actions, the slightest amount of skin touching— how warm Jaehyun was despite wearing shorts to bed like he was begging for a cold— had all of his synapses firing up and forgetting what in the world he'd been so pressed about.

The wand in his face remained a valiant challenge, and Johnny would be a damn liar if he didn't love a good challenge. "I like when you put your Head Boy voice on, can't help but agree with Mark when he says it's hot."

"And that's why I'm petrifying your ass. Hold still, please."

"The way I'm entirely offended you would think to use magic against me, but this is quality Aquarius behaviour."

"I won't even undo it for Quidditch practice."

Johnny had taken an even deeper dive off the deep end and slid his hands over the milky expanse of Jaehyun and his magnificent thighs, exposed by the fabric of his shorts riding up centimeter by centimeter every time he moved to adjust his position practically in Johnny's lap. His fingers mapped out a route they'd taken multiple times, without even needing his eyes to guide his smooth ascent under those shorts. 

They didn't have the room to themselves, their roommates slept soundly, but he was obviously smart and had gone through the struggles of having to do unspeakable actions silently and living with the constant fear they'd wake someone up, so he always cast his favourite charm:  _ muffliato _ . Conversations and sounds for them picked up as muffled buzzing to anyone outside the two of them, it was a charm practically  _ made  _ for him.

"You interrupt me studying for our largest exams, most likely nothing will ever compare to these exams, then also threaten to keep me from leading our team to victory one last time?" The tips of his fingers curled inward, dug into the flesh underneath them, and he reveled in the barely audible gasp he received in return. "Fool, that makes me even more powerful."

"You absolute jester, I'll ruin your career before it even  _ begins _ ."

The dances they do around the textbooks and scrolls of parchment to reach each other are Olympic medal worthy, and in record time, Johnny has Jaehyun pressed down on his back with his hands pinning his wrists down. There's a grin plastered to his face, a show of a laugh caught under the surface when he buries his face animatedly into the crook of his neck, hardly able to do much there if he couldn't stop smiling but that didn't deter his act.

Took him a second to get his act together, getting to the point when he could freely kiss down his neck, never giving one pressure point too much attention in favour of peppering pecks wherever he could get to hovering over Jaehyun, knees digging into the mattress on either side of his hips.

He nodded at nothing at all, continued to kiss until his lips were brushing against the shell of Jaehyun's ear, feeling the other boy shiver beneath him as though he were exposed to blizzard air. "Bold words coming from you, when I could build you a world and watch it tear down brick by brick."

Dramatic did no justice in describing their antics. When two over-the-top people combine forces and form one coupling, there is no way of keeping their antics tame ever. Lucky they were dedicated in ways not a person could ever imagine, as Johnny cherished the persona he saw of Jaehyun behind closed doors over the one everyone saw on the daily—

He loved every side of Jaehyun. Every part of him, anywhere he could kiss and touch and hold dearly, he loved. Lips trailed up and up and pressed against plush ones that remained proportional to the rest of Jaehyun's angular yet soft face, and there was nothing better than kissing him.

Kissing Jaehyun was his second favourite sport, after the God of games Quidditch of course, and he'd never tell him that he was beat by a game played on tiny trees while hitting and throwing enchanted balls left and right. 

Wands, textbooks, and sanity thrown to the wind in favour of a kiss betraying any ill-fated word that'd ever left their mouths prior to that moment in time, and Johnny could bask in such emotions for the rest of his twisting life.

"1 hour, 30 minutes." Was the first thing Jaehyun said when they parted for air, string of saliva connecting their lips as he ran his mouth on. "You're a clown."

"I'm  _ your _ clown." Johnny mouthed his words while dipping forward to capture Jaehyun's bottom lip between his own.

"Yeah, no, you're a full clown. Where's the red nose?"

He squinted at him, if not for just a second, before tipping forward to kiss the tip of Jaehyun's nose softly. "In my pocket, wanna slip your hand in there and check?"

"You got your clown shoes in there too? Maybe your tiny car, Squiggles and Giggles gonna join you?"

Kiss to his right cheek, then his left, with Johnny following the perimeter of his face in wonder. A quest with no real goal. "Now who's who?"

"You're you, Mister Pepper is Squiggles, and I'll be Giggles. We're a three-act show and it's marvelous."

"So we're clowns together."

"In sweet harmony."

His final kiss rested on Jaehyun's forehead with a vigor unmatched yet; wet and sloppy, just how he likes it, that didn't stop Jaehyun from actively squirming at the sensation. He bunched his hand up in the material of Johnny's shirt, snickered under his breath even though they had no reason to be silent, and shook his head. 

Shook his hair out from the tie that had slipped off fully for the most part, pink fluff falling in a sugary sweet halo around his face and head on the dark pillow. Marshmallow, cloud, cotton candy,  _ bewitching _ .

Jaehyun was a million and one words but  _ bewitching  _ was for sure the best word he'd come up with yet.

  
  


☆

  
  


" _ How  _ many practices this week?"

"Just 5—" Johnny mumbled, keeping his voice quiet as he did up his laces slowly. 

There were rumbles of dissatisfying words floating through the locker room after he'd answered Mark's question, but it was mainly Jeno's nasally whine that pierced through his shield. " _ Just _ ? Did you just say  _ just _ ? Like 5 practices in one week is nothing."

"I have homework to do—" Someone exclaimed.

"O.W.Ls are coming up, dude!"

"What the hell do you  _ mean _ 5 practices? Say sike, man."

He double knotted his laces, looped them around each other while humming the song his mother taught his when he was a kid, and pulled them nice and tight and  _ not at all _ angrily. Johnny was sleepy, and wondering who allowed him to stay up and then immediately go to 6 AM practice, and hating himself as it was him who allowed it. 

Jaehyun would've told him to sleep, if they were  _ actually _ seeing each other. But Johnny was dumb, and being dumb alone in the comfort of the secret hiding places to study or stress eat was easier than Jaehyun lecturing him for the tenth time about breathing too hard. Yeah, Johnny didn't need his head bitten off for taking up space; he knew when to back away, no matter how much he hated it 

He stood from the bench he'd been residing, brushing off his Quidditch gear with a smile on his face.

Once everyone's complaints and chatter died down, he looked up and made to meet as many gazes as he could. The one stood in front of him, Mark, one of his best friends and the quickest Chaser he had, looked about ready to either punch Johnny or punch someone bad mouthing him behind where they stood. He was a quick-fire, speak first and think later type of friend, and he appreciated Mark for as annoying and chipper as he could get— 

But in that second, with the nerves that their last match of the season was only a week away, and the fact he'd been stuck in the Library or on the Quidditch pitch long enough that the friends on the team were the only friends he was interacting with in that moment, Johnny needed the other to at least see him.

"Yes, 5 practices this week. And we'll be pulling double practices the day of the final, one at 6 and the other while warming up." Johnny raised his hand, just as he saw multiple people open their mouths to counter. "I know it sucks, of all people, I sure as fuck know. Exams and O.W.Ls and me and Taeyong have our N.E.W.Ts right before, but this is serious. Balance it out, work when you can, sleep as much as you can, I don't  _ care _ . We're going to win this, because this is the best team we've had in years and I know what you guys are capable of."

There was never a beat of silence in the changing room, not when he ever proposed upped practice times or changes in a line-up for a game, nor when he let his own confidence or absence of self-preservation cloud his judgement of others, but not a person dared to breathe after his speech. Looking around, Johnny could sense the feelings simmering in the room—

From slight annoyance still present, to excitement that buzzed as deeply in his own chest as others, and a hand touched his shoulder. Johnny glanced over, saw the beginnings of a smirk on Taeyong's face; he could think of how often he saw the overzealous face in the crowd after they'd won, and somewhere in his mind he thought to nod.

Nod, and stand as straight as he could to address everyone. "This isn't about the game, or who wins and who loses, this about the team. We won't all be here next year to celebrate every win and hype up even our worst losses, so I wanna make this  _ count _ . Get the Cup, lift it over our heads one last time, win with all of you guys—" his eyes trailed off to the 5th years huddled together, a mix of boys and girls and Chasers and their Keeper, and fought the urge to smile a little too wide, "I know it's tough, and I'm  _ being  _ tough, but we all wanna win. I hope. We do all wanna win, right?"

His uncertainty stemmed from that itch in his head that told him he was a terrible leader, that he had no hope in being a captain anywhere else as his work there was much below subpar. Johnny has nothing but his insecurities to thank for his initial shock when a chorus of  _ fuck yeahs _ rang through the room, with Mark was stepping up in front of him to bear his teeth in a grin fit for a captain himself. Yeah, maybe Johnny already had his replacement in mind, just staring at that smile.

"We want to win and we  _ will _ win." Mark pressed back, only enough to where he could stick his hand out, palm to the ground.

Johnny got the gist, the grogginess still present but not enough to where he couldn't smack his hand down atop of Mark's and wait for everyone else to huddle around and create a tall pile of hands and fingers clutching each other and springing warmth closing in all around him as he shouted encouragement to the skies. To the team— his team.

As a grade A block of caveman emotions but a huge sap all the same, Johnny could sense the prickling on the tops of his cheeks and on his waterline, those stupid emotions of his. He could practically hear Jaehyun mocking him for getting all teary about maybe winning a game as they all walked out onto the pitch. 

It'd been raining that night, he remembered the pitter-patter on the grand Library windows as he took 10 minutes to 'rest' his eyes, the grass beneath his trainers was slippery. He took a deep breath in, the dew fresh in the air and the scent of the freshly trimmed pitch with the droplets of rain still coming down from the sky above them filling him thoroughly, Johnny couldn't imagine a better way of spending his time than with his idiotic team who chased each other on their broomsticks just to get tackled to the ground when Mark plowed them all down.

No, he could, and when he opened his eyes and looked out to the sidelines and saw the boy who occupied his every thoughts sat there, wand up with an invisible shield of magic to keep the drizzle from hitting his robes and messy hair. 

Johnny thought one thing, that going up to Jaehyun in that second was unwise as he should be starting warm-ups and yelling at Jeno when he attempted to barrel roll without his hands, but his body was already guiding him over to the lounging boy.

"Not the best playing conditions, wouldn't you say?" Jaehyun spoke just loud enough to be heard, the screeches of his team drowned out in a split second.

Despite it all; his annoyance at himself for not even smiling at Jaehyun when they went to bed respectively, and the annoyance he felt toward him for looking so somber in that second, Johnny had it in him to smile.

"That's not gonna stop me, like, ever. There could be a swarm of pixies attacking and I'd still force these bitches to practice."

Jaehyun scoffed, tucking the textbook he closed underneath his robes, then stood up to match him. "How have they not annexed you from the team yet?"

"Because I'm the prettiest captain they'll ever have."

"And the dumbest." He reached his free hand out, fingers grasping the chin straps of his helmet and tugging at them hastily, a somewhat distant look to his eyes that Johnny admitted was a breathtaking sight. Jaehyun's eyes turned up to look at Johnny, dart across his face, shaking his head incredibly slow. "You look like you haven't slept in a decade."

Johnny was brave in lifting the hand not holding his broom to brush away a raindrop on his cheek that had gotten past the magic umbrella, noticing slight changes in the dark circles under Jaehyun's eyes, and the little breakout of bumps on his right cheek, or no matter the breadth of his smile, it never exactly reached his drowsy eyes.

"I should be saying that to you, lovey. No need to be here, you know, you've got time before your first test." He worked to tuck the strands of hair long enough behind his ear, then let his thumb and index finger rub the shell of Jaehyun's ear gently. "I've missed you."

His admittance lingered in the air, and he no quicker wished to snatch it back and stuff it into his mouth when he saw the way Jaehyun paused in adjusting his gear. Or the way the smile on his face faltered slowly, he knew he shouldn't have brought up the aspect that had rained heavier on them then the water around the school.

Instead of pulling back like Johnny had thought he'd do, Jaehyun dropped both his hands; the rain catching up to him and pelting down on him, matting his hair down but he seemed indifferent to it. He barely took the time to tuck his wand into his sleeve pocket carefully before throwing his arms around Johnny and squeezing the everliving fuck out of him, head buried in his shoulder. It had to be uncomfortable— All wet and his gear was brushing against his arms and neck and it had to feel rough against Jaehyun, but he only held him tighter.

And warmer, where Johnny had no better ideas than to cave and circle his arms around Jaehyun; around his middle to press every single part of them against each other. Hard to hear for him, with the rain growing worse and worse and the chattering from his teammates, but he heard Jaehyun inhale when he pulled his head away, enough to look Johnny in the eyes and he could see the colour in his cheeks return to shoo away the grayness of sleep deprivation.

"I missed you too, I was going out of my mind not talking to you and—" Jaehyun stopped himself short, biting down on his lower lip unconsciously, a habit he never grew out of from when they were younger. "But it's for the best."

Johnny only raised his brows at that, exposed with his helmet pushing his hair back, and Jaehyun shook his head to continue on. "We have different paths, different classes, you have Quidditch. I needed to give you that space— Remember in year 5, when we had our O.W.Ls?"

"And you screamed at me when I poured water on your notes for Defense?"

A ghost of a smile graced his lips, his arms still wound tight around Johnny's shoulders. "That led to our biggest fight, and I couldn't even look at you for a week without wanting to bite your head off because you just  _ didn't understand _ ."

"I still don't understand, really." 

There were always times where they got on each other's nerves, it was bound to happen when you spend the better part of the day and night with a person.

"This is important, for the both of us, and we're wired too different to fit it together. And I don't want to have to divide the room into halves again, yeah?"

Johnny stared at him in slight awe, for a second too long as someone yelled his name and Jaehyun had half the sense to use his grip around him to pull him into a ducking position. He heard the whistling of a Bludger flying past their heads, then back towards the pitch, the pull of the hex on it gravitating back to whatever moving body it found over there. 

Standing straight cautiously, Johnny put a hand on Jaehyun's head, somewhat protective but also craving to keep their connection strong. "Shit. You okay?" He turned his head without waiting for a response, "Mark, what the fuck did I say about letting the Bludger out early? And which dumbass couldn't bat it away to the other side? I swear on Merlin's musty robes, I'll make you all do laps for the rest of your life—"

His stream of empty threats paused when he looked back to Jaehyun, surprised to see his head ducked down under his hand, and even  _ more  _ surprised to see his shoulders shaking with the effort his laughter had coming past his lips.

"Oh my god, your captain's voice is so cute," he stopped to wipe a tear, or a raindrop Johnny wasn't exactly sure, from his lower lashes. "I'm fine, you sweet demon, don't chew them another asshole for nothing."

"Would you say it was, mayhaps, sexy?" He wriggled his eyebrows for the effect.

That easily earned him a shove on the shoulder, Jaehyun only continuing to shove him over to the pitch in his soaked through robes and Johnny swiveled his head enough to look back and catch the glimmering grin on his friend's face.  _ Friend _ , he rolled his eyes inwardly at that. 

One day he'd think to give them a better word, but for then, friend would just have to do. Until Jaehyun deemed it fine for them to talk some more, Johnny was perfectly content in his own world to wait for the other to join him then.

  
  


☆

  
  


_ "Let us hit at least fifty points ahead, then leave it to me." _

Johnny can vividly remember the words leaving his mouth that morning.

_ "Fifty points. 5-0. The number comes after 49, one goal after 45." _

He remembered Taeyong pressing home that 50 was the number they were aiming for and would stick with.

At that moment in time, they were breezing through the match. Or  _ he  _ was breezing through the match, should he say— His teammates were racing around the pitch at speeds faster than an untrained eye could see. Johnny had never, ever, seen Mark move that fast since the one time they snuck onto the pitch at night for a healthy race and their Flying professor chased him half around the grounds.  _ Twice _ . 

No, the players around him were proper blurs in chasing one another. Someone on Ravenclaw gains the Quaffle, then a Gryffindor Chaser appears with whichever Beater was on hand nearest, to keep clearing open for defense as they went in for the steal. Each of their teams were respective, timed, and precise in technique, but Johnny had drilled every maneuver and trick he could think would potentially not fuck up into their minds.

_ Fifty points ahead _ . Honestly, he wasn't keeping score. High enough where the board was just out of sight, but not too high or obscured by clouds where he couldn't see the game unfold beneath him. There were times where he could  _ guess _ they were pulling ahead; the sheer amount of times they had possession of the Quaffle versus their opponents, or how the game had stealthily shifted to really concentrate on the Ravenclaw side of the pitch and their Keeper was chilling, even doing a few spins around the goalposts to keep that side of the audience entertained.

The game was in their favour, that much was for sure, yet his game plan didn't come without obstacles. 

One, he had to keep a close watch on the Seeker on Ravenclaw; follow him as surely as he could, watching him more than the actual Golden Snitch at times of opportunity. As a result of all that, Johnny had done his diligent research— The Seeker was young, a 4th year from what he remembered Mark passing along to him, named Renjun. Kinda small, kinda really agile, and constantly slipping right past Johnny as if he were a ghost.

Two, he hated multitasking. Which was stupid, and he was stupid, since the game was literally multitasking on crack— But the plan was keep 50 points ahead, make sure it's never any less to be sure, and then he could complete a foolproof job.

Half his brain was in the game and the other half was on his after plan. Usually, Quidditch and breathing about anything else existed in different realms to him, especially during his prime time of needing to keep every aspect of his game plan in tact, but the fact of the matter was, he was  _ distracted _ . Fully, without a doubt, thinking about how bad he wanted the game to be over so he could do  _ something else  _ with a certain someone else when they won.

_ Johnny, snap out of it. _

There was no forgetting the plan, he considered that closely as he hovered from side to side.  _ Snap out of it, 50 points. _

A flash of him doing his final N.E.W.Ts exam threw him into another preoccupied grumble, he deemed important enough since his future was riding on those stupid exams, whoever let that be allowed was an idiot to begin with. 

Like truly, examinations never actually gave anyone a look into their strong suits, there were so many better ways at considering how well one were to do in one field than the other. Their classes may have been immersive, not to the standard Johnny would consider helpful, but they did no one justice in trying to  _ actually  _ help.

And who ever thought miles on miles of scrolls to write, due Monday morning at second bell, no later or  _ that's a Needs Improvement for you, Mister Suh _ , would guide him to figuring out what the hell he wanted to do with his—

_ "Johnny! _ "

He blinked, whipping his head to the side at first, then tipping it down seeing no one was as high as he was. Come to think of it, Johnny didn't even think Renjun was in his general vicinity. His eyes caught Taeyong's, wild and the size of saucers even from the distance they were at. Oh—

"Oh. Shit." Johnny fully snapped out of it, seeing the blur of blue just behind where Taeyong was stagnant on his broom, screaming expletives he didn't even know existed, and he took to swan diving right then and there to chase. "Oh shit!"

"Oh shit is right, you fucking dumb—"

Johnny didn't stay close enough to Taeyong to hear the rest of his sentence as he was gripping the front of his broom for dear life, giving the sharpest twist of his body to pivot right. 

_ Pivot right _ , he was heaving with the effort to be both in control of where he was going, and looking past wherever Renjun was flying off to catch the slightest glimpse of yellow. Gold. 

Mother of everything on the Earth, Johnny folded himself practically in half to drape over his broom, tipping it just the slightest bit forward, then he did the riskiest move he ever let himself do in all his years of playing. He moved to nose dive: drive himself down and down and he trusted the wind and robe shuffling he heard behind him that Renjun was on his tail.

It took no longer than a few seconds before the green grass was all he was seeing; no more shades of red and blue and golds, he'd seen the move in professional games he'd observed. The World Cup showed him techniques he'd be an idiot to attempt, but the timing was key.

Time management was not his strong suit, but Johnny counted down. At least he knew how to count.

  1. _3_. Gradual amounts of gasps and sharp words came from the audience, his teammates. 



  1. Johnny heard Renjun curse above him, something between a _what the hell_ and _not today, Satan._ Both incredulously valid in that moment.



_ 1 _ —

Just as he practically could  _ taste _ the grass, he straightened himself out and his broomstick moved along with him. Not as smoothly as he would hope, Johnny lost his hold and nearly found himself tumbling like a Bludger with no target in sight, but he began flying just above the ground. The tips of his boots kissed the grass, dew collected on them with every inch gained, and all he needed to do was reach.

_ Reach, you blundering idiot _ . Jaehyun's voice always inched into his mind in close-calls. As though the boy was his voice of reason, Johnny reached forward with the whirring beats of the Snitch's wings grazing first the air. Then his fingertips could feel the beating,  _ close your hand, c'mon, just a little further, do it. Dislocate your shoulder if you damn need to _ —

"And the Golden Snitch has been caught by Seeker Johnny Suh! Gryffindor wins!" The announcer dictates, or rather unprofessionally screams out in delight as Ten could never really keep much bias out, his personal cheerleader at times—

"Wait— We won?"

In the seconds between him grabbing the Snitch and the game being called, Johnny had tumbled straight off his broom and ate sand for a good minute of rolling. Sitting up in a mess of his robes proved his hearing correct.

"We fucking won!" Arms dragged him to his feet, thankfully, and it didn't take even a minute for the entire Gryffindor team to engulf him in a group hug to end all group hugs.

_ They won _ . Johnny could barely breathe, and the Snitch was still hammering away for freedom gripped in his palm, but he managed to worm his hand out from the mass of wizards and hold it up high for the entire stadium to gawk with him at the Snitch. 

Teammates became the entire Gryffindor house piling onto the pitch and cheering at the top of their lungs; then that all morphed into Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw house joining in with their own victories thrown into the wind to simply celebrate winning. The House Cup was wonderful to have on your own, but over the years, despite all the competitiveness during the actual games, the entire school could take the victory with pride and the loss with just as much pride.

Slytherins were always the last to join in, as they had now come officially in second place and sulking was entirely allowed, but a few of the beefier 7th years in the infamous rival house hoisted Johnny right into the air and threw him up like he weighed the same as a single Galleon.

Games were thrilling. Planning the entire strategy of how to win and the best possible ways in pulling ahead gave him the desire to lead someone into damn war. But it would forever be the swell of accomplishment taking over his senses; making his sight blurry with ecstasy and tears, his heart pounded just as hard as the hundreds of feet hitting the ground as the whole school jumped and yelled for joy, that was almost always going to be the reason he would play Quidditch for as long as he could.

Johnny could qualm about how difficult everything would be the second he were to step foot out of the castle for good, and wonder where all his friends would end up after 7 years of nothing but them, them, them. But when he was finally put down, and hands were clapping him on the back and musing up his hair, the feeling of pure and unadulterated happiness couldn't be beat.

Well,  _ almost  _ couldn't be beat.

He willed himself through the throng of people, smiled at whoever congratulated him. Promised as many times that  _ yes, _ there was an after party and yes, everyone was invited, until he made it. His goal. 

The one true time he felt as good as he felt with the Golden Snitch in his grip; seeing Jaehyun sticking out like a sore thumb in the crowd as if he were his beacon of all that was perfect.

Jaehyun, with his robes amiss and hair fluffed from bodies rushing all around him in a fit of celebratory hysteria, looking every which way disheveled but Johnny couldn't help but see him as a work of art no matter what.

Jaehyun, all balls of pearly white teeth on full display the closer they got to the other. His smile seemed to grow in relation to the distance closing between them. Soon it was 10 bodies, then 5 bodies, then—

Jaehyun, taking Johnny's hand over the heads of a few small 1st years, fingers slipping into his, pulling him into his personal space with no time to spare. Johnny swore he was about to melt into a literal puddle when he finally reached him.

Jaehyun, who always had been a few inches shorter than Johnny. Who always hid the smiles he beamed at him or the immature jokes about what they could be getting up to instead of class because it wasn't very Head Boy of him to be a goof.

In that moment, with the heaviness of the most important win in Johnny's school career whipping around them, all Johnny wanted to do was kiss him.

"You did it," Jaehyun had his hand ruffling his hair, the one not clamped around Johnny's and hidden beneath his robes away from prying eyes, "I fucking told you, see? I'm always right, yet you have the audacity to judge me—"

"Can I kiss you?" Johnny cut him off. Jaehyun stared at him in some mixture of bewilderment and intrigue.

What happens when you aren't exactly secretive of relationships but the two of you just so happen to be the most high-profile students in your house is one of you are  _ bound  _ to be shy. 

Not closeted, Johnny had smashed that ugly door down the second he came to terms with his raging bisexuality, and Jaehyun more or less was out to the people who mattered enough.

Every win from the time they started the whole thing in their 4th year, Johnny had tried to kiss Jaehyun right there on the pitch. Out of a whirlwind of emotions and excitement still buzzing through his skin, his whole bravado of the overconfident, has his shit all together and then some captain, Johnny wanted to scoop Jaehyun up and plant the winning smooch on those magnificent lips of his to seal the win.

Every time, however, Jaehyun has given him  _ the look _ . The look read,  _ if you dare put your lips anywhere near me in this second, I won't hesitate to unleash a Boggart on you to haunt your living days _ . Quite romantic, if he says so himself.

He waited, more expected, for that same response he got every time he attempted anything. It was dumb to even ask, to even consider, and he would always respect Jaehyun and his wills for privacy.

What he got; what he got knocked the wind fitfully out from his lungs.

Jaehyun stared right at him, face open to the kindness seeping out from him, and a smile that put the Sun to shame with how shimmering it was. There was something that thawed in his chest then, Johnny sensed it in the way his heart thudded almost uncomfortably, and it alerted that he felt for Jaehyun in ways he'd never be able to speak or pen in words.

Hands were now cupping his cheeks, a familiar grip that showered Johnny in warmth and almost had him forgetting they were surrounded by all their peers. "Do it. I think winning your final House Cup is enough for a simple kiss."

It was doomed, his crush for Jaehyun. It had forever been— They were on different wavelengths, with multiple layers to their futures that never overlapped with one another. Johnny knew that all too well.

He didn't care much, in that second, for his arms were looping around Jaehyun's waist and just to be dramatic, to be the Quidditch captain with all his athletic prowess, he lifted him off his feet. An inch or two away from the ground, and Jaehyun dragged his fingers through his matted hair and gave a little tug for encouragement, but that merely ignited the fire in his core to lean forward and capture those lips of his with his own.

Kiss him like his entire life was on the line and he sorta felt like it was. He was manning most of Jaehyun's weight, who was happily leaning on him, but he could care less about his already sore arms. It'd be ignorant of him to pull away as Jaehyun was making the sweetest humming noise that Johnny heard loud and clear, the crowd having drowned away from his mind and it was filled with Jaehyun, Jaehyun, and even more Jaehyun.

Jaehyun pulling back first to gasp in breaths and laughter replacing that pretty hum. Jaehyun with the smile to win his heart over and over again. And Johnny with his death vice still holding Jaehyun up, where he was the one looking up to him instead of it being the other way around, as it had been for forever. 

_ Forever _ .

He notoriously crumbled under the pressure of thinking of saying forever without Jaehyun being attached to that forever, and it was a whole new dagger in his heart as he put the other boy down gently to get whisked around. He still had the shining grin on his face, and the tops of his cheeks were dusted rosy pink from their incredibly public kiss.

Johnny wished he could see that look on his face at every turn in life.

He wished to feel the thumping in his chest and core for the rest of his life as well; a distant thought in that second and much too real all at the same time.

  
  


☆

  
  


Parties were  _ his  _ scene, without a doubt.

As the self-proclaimed recklessly social butterfly of their group of half-witted friends, Johnny was expected to take a party and bend it to his will, no matter what. They got a little— Wild.

Not out of hand, per se; if the entire fiasco from his 4th year where they accidentally broke the frame for the Fat Lady, just a small bit of the bottom corner that Johnny  _ swore  _ he never meant to kick when he was running for the Quaffle Mark threw up the staircase, was an example of what the worst ends of parties for them meant, then he never reached that peak after that mess. The Fat Lady refused to let him into the dorm himself for 2 weeks after that disaster, even after he magically fixed her frame and left her many delicious peace offerings. He had even clapped for her daily shows, when all the students continued to roll their eyes, but it took some convincing from perfect, radiant-smiled and politician-voiced Jaehyun to get him out of that mess. As per usual.

Turbulent was truly the best way of explaining the happenings.

Johnny doesn't remember when he managed to sneak some of the team and even the friends off the team into the Prefects' bathroom. And he doesn't remember when clothes came off and where in the hell they all got a dose of dizzying potions Ten never explained the ingredients of, but they left a funny taste in the back of his throat that he washed down with the pumpkin juice he pretended to enjoy, and he could count the stars in his vision.

He does, however, remember the nervous chill that ran up his spine every time his eyes trailed across the pool-like tub and somehow caught Jaehyun looking in his direction. Johnny would never forget how quickly he whipped his head to the side, pretending to take up an interest in the tap.

Fake examining the sapphire jewel atop it, whilst vaguely hearing what a mostly hidden Mark was rattling on about under a pile of pink bubbles he didn't recall filling the tub with. He hummed and hawed along, vaguely hearing the topic of the game coming into play once every so often, but his mind drifted around.

Into the clouds, towards the stained glass of portraits of merfolk he'd seen pop up from the Great Lake once in a while, to the pretty boy trying to get his attention while also  _ not  _ making it obvious at all. And Johnny was working to make it seem like he was fine with being across the tub instead of siddled right up next to Jaehyun, preferably with him in his arms.

That night was a particularly sappy one. Filled with congratulatory words and pats to the head, one too many tears shed from the younger team members when the House Cup was handed to them; the first thing Johnny did was hold it out in front of him and let them have the first taps, let the 3rd and 4th years enjoy the feel of their first of many big wins. He wouldn't dare admit he shed a tear when Mark and Jeno lifted the Cup up together, over their heads with these triumphant smiles on their faces, and it was a joy they deserved.

A joy they all deserved, even he himself did, something Jaehyun drove home in the few seconds they had together on the pitch. After Johnny nearly died from the best kiss in the world.

_ Gods _ , would he love for another one. He lulled his head back, let it rest against the cool porcelain of the tub's edge, touched his index finger to his lips without realizing it. Jaehyun always lingered in his head, remained a gentle reminder with a tingle on his parted lips.

There was absolutely nothing different about that kiss to their others— Every kiss felt as exhilarating as the last one. Only an imbecile would think to compare something as personable and contrasting as kisses shared with the same person, but what was Johnny is not an emotional imbecile.

Finally kissing him on the pitch, after his most historical game of his entire schooling career won under his belt, and even if Jaehyun hadn't been the first to congratulate him or tell him he did amazing, it still  _ felt  _ like it. He let his eyes fall shut and the world around him slowly faded to merely staticky messes; everything narrowed to Jaehyun and he could sense the realization on the horizon.

A realization he didn't want nor need at that second, but one he'd been seeing ride close for nearly 4 years. Or however long he's had bubbly butterflies in his stomach for his best friend. 

What in the world was going on with him—

"So, you fall asleep at your own party? Quite the cliché, John."

At that second, Johnny snapped his eyes open at the voice that plagued his dreams, more often than he'd like to admit, being much closer than he remembered prior. Sure enough, when he leveled his head and looked forward, Jaehyun had his signature Professor-told-me-the-exam-questions grin on.

Dimples? Check. Eyes crinkled around the edges? Check. Wading right in front of him with eyes filled with stories maybe even he hadn't heard before? Check and  _ check _ .

Johnny took the beat between them to glance around the room, seeing pools of water in the vague shapes of footsteps in the wake of his missing friends, an empty tub excluding Jaehyun and him. Him and Jaehyun.  _ Oh, Gods. _ "I— I didn't sleep, just was thinking. Where'd everyone run off to?"

"Told them to piss off, it was close to Mark's bedtime." Jaehyun put his best imitation of Mark and his squeaky, cute little voice on when he whined, then pushed his hair back with wet hands. "I just thought you'd want some alone time, soak in the win."

"Well, you're still here."

That had the corner of Jaehyun's mouth quirking up, floating a little closer until he felt their knees brush under the water. "You wanna be  _ alone,  _ alone?"

"Alone is boring, our type of alone is of course perfect." Johnny held himself down, in an effort to not reach out.

Brush the few now lilacs toned strands of hair out of his eyes, tuck them behind his ear. Maybe watch Jaehyun begin to pull away from the touch, and Johnny would happily oblige to anything the other wanted, but it wouldn't be too long until Jaehyun was draping his warmth around him.

He was grateful for just his presence near him, enough that he'll look back to this stilled moment in the chilled water. Where one of the many times he could make a move yet he decided the passive route worked easier; fared better in the long run Johnny didn't even consider. Because yeah, he would get sad about being the same the entire way through the year with Jaehyun.

Maybe it was enough that he was smiling at Jaehyun and receiving a smile in return, one filled with delight and a delicate feeling he couldn't put a name too. 

Something he would miss.

There it was. An emotion Johnny had been avidly avoiding the entire duration of their 7th year. Because Jaehyun was there the past 7 years, but their paths would diverge afterwards. Johnny knew it, he pondered if Jaehyun knew it too.

Jaehyun slipped through his fingers just as the water did when he finally lifted his hand— Finally reached through the millimeters of ocean between them to dust across Jaehyun and his cheek. Almost instantly, he saw the pink blush arise to the surface and spread across anything in its wake, a beautiful show of the unreadable nature of Jaehyun's pitless eyes.

As though all the stars had been sucked out from them and redistributed into the skies above them; Jaehyun knew, definitely.

"Alone with you," Johnny began, then paused, in search for the words he couldn't pick out. His hand properly cupped Jaehyun's cheek in the nanoseconds of silence, that earned him a little smile. "Maybe that's enough, yeah, it's enough."

"Alone. But make it together?"

He failed to keep the impulsive smirk from his face, as he took every opportunity it seemed to pull the light out of Johnny's heart, and he nodded. "I would love a tall order of alone but together, yes."

The staring wasn't all too subtle, Jaehyun had a way of staring into a person's eyes as though he were trying to read the very makeup of their DNA. That was wonderful, to Johnny at least, because then his own staring was covered up by a fatal staring contest that Jaehyun for sure started. Friends of theirs claimed the intense staring was a little uncomfy, but they were probably blind.

Or he was biased. He was fine with either explanation, if it had anything to do with Jaehyun. Staring turned to smiles that portrayed whole conversations hidden away in their minds, then that all turned into Johnny guiding his hand down and down, further until it was cupping the back of his neck and Jaehyun was forced a little closer.

Closer and closer. Oceans became lakes and streams before either one of them had a say in it, Johnny crowding himself back against the tub's side to let Jaehyun come into his lap, the feel of his nearly bare legs brushing against his in the pretense of water all around them. It was dumb to be sad, but of course, he got sad thinking they'd never touch the same way again.

Soon, they were touching in all the brilliant places, hands brushing against cheeks and down backs and pulling one another in so their chests collided. He wanted so much out of just simple touches, and he could get it; get what he wanted. Leaned forward and hovered his lips over Jaehyun's, his breath tickling his upper lip, each shaky inhale he gave off sent a shiver through Johnny's veins. Sparkles and stars filled his bloodstream, magic that felt searingly hot.

Magic that burst inside his chest when they finally pressed their lips together, starved as if they'd never felt the heat from the other before that second in time. The position was incredibly awkward while as comfortable as could be in a literal tub, Jaehyun shifting all the more closer to him and his arms circling around his shoulders, Johnny was trapped beyond escape, but he'd never want that anyway. All he could do was bless Jaehyun for somehow behind flexible enough, languid in the way his bent legs spread open to press their crotches against each other.

That pulled a soft hum from Johnny, a strangled groan from Jaehyun— The kiss never suffered as hips began to shift forward and back, circular when there was an upsetting need from further friction, they kept the rhythm solid between their lips until it ached to even part his mouth and swipe his tongue along Jaehyun's plump lower lip.

He couldn't blame himself entirely for the airiness in his mind. Potions filled the ingredients that caused fuzziness and giggles were the cause, and Johnny wished the circumstances could be different, but all he wanted— All he  _ needed  _ was the feeling he got when Jaehyun dragged his fingers through his hair, tugged on the strands further they reached, massaged his scalp when Johnny let our a near pitiful moan to the treatment. They parted for air and for grumbles that maybe meant for a switch of positions, and who was he to ignore such claims when he was beginning to prune and wrinkle like their History of Magic Professor.

Johnny couldn't recall the journey out of the tub, who was gripping onto who, whichever person pinned whoever down to the tiled floor first, but he remembered his back touching the cool surface and his hands holding for dear life and purchase on Jaehyun's shifting hips. No mercy was drawn at all, he could only surrender to the humanly cost of arousal in his body, and they'd never really gone too far in their endeavors.

Feeling such enjoyment through Jaehyun, and his touch, and the blissful way his mouth dropped open when he wanted to let a truly forlorn whimper out, was a blessing Johnny needed to count at all times. Usually, they'd grind away in bed and Johnny would kiss along whatever skin he could find under askew pajama tops, never full nudity as they had no clue who could wake up and see them rucking around under the sheets with their dicks out. Just clothes, and friction that burned into his core, but the time right then felt different.

He could take in every inch of skin offered to him, and witness the marvelous shifting in Jaehyun's abdomen with the muscles there whenever he would rock his body back particularly fluid. As if it were all a dance, and Johnny had no idea if Jaehyun even knew how to actually dance— He wouldn't put it past the boy, his hips caused all sorts of pressures in his stomach without even taking their soaked boxers off.

Of course, the boxers were gone in due time. Johnny was flustered in the sense that they could barely look each other in the eyes, Jaehyun immediately folding his body in half over top of him, just Johnny being brave enough and sticking his arm between their bodies cautiously.

"Can I touch you?" Johnny asked, the most obvious waver in his voice. He cleared his voice, felt his knuckles hit against the rise and fall of Jaehyun's stomach, those toned abs ribbed against his skin.

Jaehyun huffed something that felt vaguely like a chuckle, air tickling where his face was buried in his neck, and though the movement was nervous—careful, he rolled his hips downward.

Just once, but once was enough to get Johnny gulping a groan. Jaehyun spoke quietly, like they were passing national secrets in a crowded room and not all alone. "The answer, as always, is yes."

A somewhat pleased sound escaped Johnny, whose hand was traveling on down to try and succeed in wrapping his fingers around both their cocks, anxiously awaiting for any sort of reaction from the other.

What he gained was a strangled, almost inaudible whimper from Jaehyun, who tensed and relaxed, tensed again when Johnny took the liberty of using their still wet bodies from the tub to easily stroke up, then down. Slow motions; ones that drew out the breathiest of moans from Jaehyun and he himself was struggling to not let his jaw drop open fully and let out what he was assuming would be a string of profane words he'd never speak in the presence of others.

Words of pleasure and confusion as to how their bodies molded so well together— How Jaehyun melted on top of him and rocked his hips in a well thought out effort to keep the rhythmic standards of Johnny jerking them off, and how Johnny couldn't keep the sounds trapped away in his throat and his head tipped back against the cooled tile further.

Hair mused, groans unadulterated and unapologetically only for the other's ears only, and Johnny couldn't believe how euphoric the sparks were going through his veins as he climbed the metaphoric cliff to his inevitable descent. If Jaehyun could read his mind, which he doubts he'd even be able to do so with him shuddering in pleasure, he would definitely call him a dramatic bitch. 

He was, obviously, but the ways in which Jaehyun was moving and sounding and holding on so tightly to his with iron grips around his biceps, Johnny couldn't help but be even more dramatic.

The unoccupied hand found itself caressing up Jaehyun's back, filling the bumps along his spine, and there was a beat where Jaehyun whined out at solely that. He arched out, pressed their chests even closer together, and the sweat and moisture remaining from the water created a slippery situation to where Johnny had to wrap his arm fully around Jaehyun. He fitted so well, moved where Johnny wanted. It was heaven, and he never wanted it to end.

"Please—" Jaehyun whispered, followed with a melodic moan he wanted engraved in his mind for the rest of his life.

For what he was asking for, Johnny couldn't figure it out afterwards, but he would happily oblige. Press a few chaste kisses along the exposed length of Jaehyun's neck, reinforce his grip around them, hold Jaehyun closer to him with whatever strength his shaky muscle would allow him. 

He let his hand do the active movements, somehow trying to give them both the fair treatment but his thumb would swipe across the head of his cock in hopes to gain a few gorgeous moans, while his lips do the silent expressing; a slow ascent up from the prominent collarbone, nipping his way up his neck— a neck in which Johnny had forever been an adamant admirer of and had wanted to kiss at forever— with a flourish across his jaw. 

Jaehyun was kind of a squirmer, every sensitive nick at his neck had him shifting his hips down, causing Johnny to keen just a bit and tighten his fingers, which repeated the cycle. He was a marvel, in every aspect of the word, and Johnny had no idea he could have his heart soaring even higher for the boy but there they were. Jerking off together, as friends do.

Whatever the hell it was that he wanted, he'd give it to him until he was no longer able to.

  
  


☆

  
  


"I'm shocked you didn't break your neck, idiot."

Johnny all but scoffed, upturning his nose with a cock of his chin, then resettled to nuzzle his cheek against the top of Jaehyun's head. "Me? Fail at a stunt? Never ever happened before, why would it start now?"

"How about that one time in 4th year?"

"I have no recollection of this—"

"Epic wipeout, for sure." There was an obvious grin in Jaehyun's voice, but he only tucked himself closer under the curve of Johnny and his arm. Right into his side and deeper in the sudsing waters around them. "I'm sure the Fat Lady remembers all too well. We can ask her all about it."

"And have me locked out of the dorms for another week so you could sweep in and save my ass? Hah! Absolutely not."

Jaehyun exhaled a laugh, and Johnny snickered with how soft hairs tickled his cheek and nose every time the other moved ever so slightly, and everything was  _ actually  _ perfect. Perhaps Johnny was just running off his afterglow from the actions of prior, because what was he doing giggling with his first love in a tub after they'd just came together in one of the closest ways they'd ever been?

A mess, he knew that much, was brewing in his chest and all he could manage was a little chuckle at his own lack of confidence. Him, Johnny Suh, king of unnerving amounts of cockiness, unconfident in his ability to read a situation.

Everything was different, of course, but hearing Jaehyun laughing alone while he recited bit by bit the aggressive speech the Fat Lady had given him when he'd kicked her frame  _ by accident _ , there was thar fluttering in his chest again. Was he in awe? In adoration for the passion his friend had even in times of mocking him? Like, he already knew he was destined for amazing things, that even making fun of someone was a passion project for him, but Johnny felt the fluttering deeper in his chest.

Near his core, everything beat so magically, like actual magic. As if a spell had been cast on him and was rapidly spreading throughout his whole body, but the spell was Jaehyun's presence; the spreading and fluttering was just Johnny feeling too much.

The head beneath his cheek moved, tipped back until it was resting on his shoulder and Jaehyun was looking over and up at him, those round eyes of his filled with oceans of sweet stars. "You're unusually quiet, even though I'm talking about you— That's your favourite thing to talk about, is everything alright?"

_ Everything's a-okay! Perfect! Just like you! And my perfect feelings of love and want for you. Did I mention love? Because I for sure do love you and those cute dimples of yours and when you cast Lumos for no reason but to point out the stress pimples on my forehead in the dark and you _ —

"Oh, er, everything's fine. Just thinking."

"All up in your feelings again, John?" A finger tapped the tip of his nose, Jaehyun smiling with Johnny jumping slightly at the contact. "Tell me about what goes on in that mind of yours, besides Quidditch."

"Naked people—"

"If you end that sentence, I swear to Merlin—"

"Especially naked people named Jung Jaehyun."

Threw a wink in and everything, but Johnny still sputtered through the water in his mouth when he finally came back up for air. He rubbed at his eyes, gulping in a shallow breath before letting a grin take over his face with ease. "You trying to kill me before we graduate, sunshine?"

"Move before I dunk you again." 

Jaehyun wiggled his lithe fingers at Johnny, what he'd do to have those fingers pulling at his hair again like earlier, but instead he just reached out and snatched them from the air. They were floating across from each other now, Jaehyun having tried to narrowly escape after pushing Johnny headfirst into the water, though he was bent on keeping as little distance between them as possible.

"Dunk me, I dare you." He chided, cocky tone settling in his voice naturally. "You're too soft for that."

He looked to Jaehyun with the idea that he'd get a quipped  _ don't challenge me or you'll lose _ response, yet he instead was met with one of the prettiest smiles he'd ever seen. There was something so distinct behind the upturned corners of his lips and the light amounts of dimple; spoke of hidden thoughts and questions behind those sparkling eyes—  _ bittersweet _ .

Johnny figured analyzing the smile that bittersweet was as close as he could get. A crease between his brows, his nose a little scrunched up. "What's wrong?"

There were a couple more beats of eye contact shared between the two of them, and each second that passed by cause more anxiety to settle in the pit of his stomach. Eventually, Jaehyun worked to lock their still gripped together fingers, around and through each other, and dropped them so they hardly brush the surface of the lukewarm water.

"What— um, I dunno how to word this." He stopped himself, lips pursed up and eyes dancing around Johnny's face, then he focused on something behind his head before continuing. "What the hell are we, Johnny?"

_ Don't panic, don't panic _ . He exhaled one breath, deep, steady. Shaky, actually, the shakiness settled deep in his bones. "What do you mean?"

"Don't  _ what do you mean _ me, not after what we just— you know, all that." Jaehyun seemed to move to wave his hand, but he was still clasping onto Johnny's, so he sighed and moved along. "We've been doing this stupid dance for 3 years, and I'm tired. Like, sick and tired. After everything, I thought you'd have a better answer."

"Everything? Everything what?"

"Everything! Giving us space, coming back together easily, the kiss on the pitch! We just gave each other handjobs on the Prefect's bathroom floor for fucks sake, you cannot fake not understanding what I mean."

Speaking, words, actually getting something out from his mouth seemed suddenly impossible to Johnny. All he could get himself to do was stare at Jaehyun as though he'd never met him, and really, over the years they'd known each other, he couldn't recall ever hearing him speak that sharply. Not even scolding someone got him to use a tone like that; 

Head Boy voice was somewhat stern, what he was hearing then was beyond that.

It felt as though he had just finished stuffing an entire Jelly Slug into his mouth, unable to open his mouth, the only willing part to him was the fluttering in his chest, moving as fast as the Golden Snitch he caught during the final match.

"Sorry, it's just… Um, I'd been avoiding this."

"Why?" Jaehyun stayed quick to his replies, yet their hands remained entangled ever so gently.

"Maybe we could just graduate and move on to you working as a successful Auror or Head of a department at the Ministry— wait for the reunion in 10 years to think about it, the silly stuff we got up to in your teenage years."

Jaehyun scoffed, parting his lips to say something but Johnny rattled on in spite of all parts of his brain was telling him. "You'd go on to be the amazing person you're destined to be, and I'll send an owl every few months or so to tell you I still don't even know what I want to do with life. Maybe we'll lose contact."

"Johnny—"

"No, lemme finish, please?" He awaited the shallow nod, then wished to swallow his own tongue. "We'll tell stories about the atupid shit we got up to; the time I broke the Fat Lady's frame, or the time we stolle Taeyong's robes and uniform from the change rooms so he had to wait for 5 hours until he accio'd my robes, and every exam period we didn't study and just screwed around under the library desks.

"Like, think about it, really— It's dumb because I get sad about it, isn't it too late to say anything?"

"Are you saying something?" Jaehyun always had a way of articulating words to provoke an answer, no matter how inclined he was to never reply truthfully.

"Yeah, I'm saying there's no way we're  _ just friends _ . We haven't  _ been _ just friends for years, and it's too late to ask for anything more, because you know how I feel."

He could feel the way his heart was thudding against his sternum, uncomfortably hard. Everytime Jaehyun furrowed his brows tightly, parted his lips with no words to follow after, or shook his head absentmindedly, Johnny felt his heart fall a little more.

Little by little, Jaehyun worked to recuse the space, move in closer to Johnny and find the perfect area where he was looking up to him slightly with a look absolutely lost to Johnny.

Never had he seen him look so thoughtful, so defiant. So rebellious, all Head Boy vibes down the drain. "I can guess how you feel, I think I feel the same. And I don't want this to be a stupid trist we had in schooling, what use will that have when you're the closest person to me in, like, the universe."

" _ In, like, the universe _ . Cheesy ass—"

"I'm trying to have a moment with you, stop being an asshole for one second!"

He flashed a grin, which he was glad to see mirrored right back to him, and despite it all— The smile residing on Jaehyun's face and the relaxed nature of his shoulders and head slightly tilted to the side, he felt the ache in his chest worsen. "How would anything even work? Won't you have training and provisions to work on?"

"Training?" Jaehyun raised a single eyebrow, and Johnny leaned ever slightly forward to kiss the furrow between his brows, speaking against his skin from thereon out.

"I dunno what you have to do to be an Auror? Hate those sons of bitches, I never listened when they gave their speeches in Transfiguration."

Jaehyun all but shoved him away, rather, he dropped his hands and pressed them against Johnny's cheeks instead. Squished them up and used that hold to guide his head away from his forehead area, till they were face-to-face. Eye-to-eye, stupid smile to stupid smile.

"I've been meaning to say, and ask, some stuff. Firstly, I kinda don't wanna be an Auror anymore?"

"Huh? You  _ don't  _ wanna be one? So you're gonna work for the Ministry?" Johnny cut himself off, gasping in a sharp breath. "Have they already offered you a job? Oh my Gods, they saw your N.E.W.Ts scores, didn't they?"

"No— I mean yes, I already have some offers in a department or 3. But! That's not what I meant, just wait for me to finish." His fingers were tender where they held Johnny, cradling him practically. "I sent an owl home a few weeks ago, after an epic existential crisis while studying for our Potions exam, saying I wanted to be a teacher."

"A  _ teacher _ ?" He exclaimed.

"Yes! Merlin's beard, I will silence you. I want to teach; here, preferably. But that requires some lived experience to even imagine applying right out of school." 

Johnny counted the seconds between his words and after, looking expectantly at Jaehyun, hoping his tilting of his head and jutting of his lip meant anything. Jaehyun, finally, sighed and made to run his fingers through his hair. "Okay, you may speak now."

"What subject do you wanna teach, Professor Jung?"

"First, don't call me that— Second, I've always particularly liked Defence Against the Dark Arts, it's the most interesting."

"The position is cursed, didn't you hear? No one  _ wants _ to teach Defence."

Jaehyun squished his cheeks together at that, a smile teasing at his lips. " _ I  _ wanna teach it. But I need the gallivanting across countries and defeating small issues before I do any applying, and I was wondering, but you could definitely say no to it."

"When have I ever said no to you, love?" He tried to put his most suave voice one, raising his eyebrows up. 

"Never, but that's the whipped culture speaking." Just before Johnny could counter any slander upon his proud culture expression, Jaehyun pressed the quickest peck to his lips, actively shutting him up. "Any damn ways, I would like to travel in a gap year. That's boring all by myself, y'know, who the hell likes travelling by themselves. And I wouldn't absolutely  _ hate _ having my best person beside me. Unless you already have plans for after school, which of course you. You're gonna be the youngest star player on a Quidditch team, no time for dumb adventures."

There it was, flutters in his chest. It changed from soft putters of his heart to full-blown hammering, and Johnny raised his hands up to hold onto his thin wrists, ones he's held to tug down winding hallways through escapes from classes for exploring the many twists and turns Hogwarts had to offer.

He was used to being completely fine with these memories being just that; memories. Simple little trinkets of his past that he'd have to move on from after he finished school, through times where he struggled to figure out what the hell he wanted to do with himself after leaving everything.

"I  _ do _ wanna play Quidditch, yes. Just not yet. There needs to be some separation between school Quidditch and me Quidditch."

"Which is?"

"Moving on from school, from friends. I thought from you, too, but I don't want that. I want time and I'd like to spend some of that with you, I guess."

The scoff he gained was beautiful to his ears, and leaning forward until their noses knocked into each other with forgiving pain was a cherry on top. Surrounded by everything Jaehyun, his smell, his hums, his grin he tried so hard to keep at bay but they quickly took over his whole face. 

They nuzzled noses with little care for the now diminished bubbles around them or the dwindling hours of the night, all too wrapped up. Things don't last forever, magic was maybe the one constant they'd have forever in their lives afterwards. Maybe it was just enough that he knew they were the ones, him and Jaehyun, were one for then.

When Johnny glanced away to the large windows framing the far side of the room, at the night sky with the Moon hanging high above them, he wondered how the stars shined so much brighter than he remembered.

_ Stupid _ , his tunnel vision for Jaehyun acted up and made everything near to him the best thing in the world.

"I guess," Jaehyun's voice pulled him back effortlessly, a demure lilt to it that indicated he was hiding a smile much sweeter than the dimpled one he was showing Johnny in such close proximity, "we have that all figured out."

"Yeah, I guess so."

**Author's Note:**

> well that's finished !! i do hope you enjoyed that and thanks so much for reading ♡  
> and tuwuin, i hope you enjoyed this as well, and i love you with my whole heart and soul. you're the bestest person in the whole world and you own my soul uwu
> 
> comment, kudos, bookmark! whatever you wanna do ♡  
> twitter: [kinoscheeks](https://twitter.com/kinoscheeks)  
> 


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